Road 96: Mile 0 Creative Director talks prequel & historical inspirations

We spoke with Yoan Fanise of Digixart about returning to Road 96 with a prequel.

March 28, 2023 1:20 PM

Road 96: Mile 0 is an upcoming prequel to the 2021 adventure game. Mile 0 takes place prior to the events of Road 96, following our protagonist before her fateful journey to escape the fictional nation of Petria. Ahead of its release in April, we caught up with the game’s Creative Director to learn more about the developer’s approach to the prequel and development process.

Shacknews head of video Greg Burke spoke with Digixart’s Yoan Fanise about Road 96: Mile 0. During the discussion, Fanise explained the world of Petria, the fictional land that the protagonists lives in, which is ruled by an authoritarian government. “[Petria] Looks a bit like America in certain way, but this is not America, this is more inspired by a bunch of different countries that went wrong in terms of economy and politics. We tried to mix a bit of the worst of all the existing systems in the world.” A lot of Road 96’s themes are expressed through the country of Petria, and it looks like that will be the case with Mile 0, too.

Fanise also talks about the decision to go backward in the timeline and tell a prequel story, instead of picking up after the end of Road 96. He told us that the decision was a result of feedback from fans. When Road 96 begins, players are already on the road trying to flee the country. There is minimal backstory or explanation as to how our protagonist got to this point. Mile 0 looks to answer those questions and further flesh out the universe.

We here at Shacknews were fans of Road 96, and will surely have more coverage of Road 96: Mile 0 when it launches in April. For more insightful developer interviews, subscribe to the Shacknews and GamerHubTV YouTube channels.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_

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